Mark Cooley is an interdisciplinary artist interested in exploring the intersections of art, activism and institutional critique in a variety of contexts. Subjects of particular interest are U.S. foreign policy, corporate culture, and the political economy of new technologies. Recently, Mark has focused his attention on food production and consumption and the ways in which artists may mediate in these processes.

Art in the Age of Videogames

Video and computer game technologies have opened up new possibilities for artistic creation, distribution, and appreciation. In addition to projects that might conventionally be described as Internet Art, Digital Art or New Media Art, there is now a wide spectrum of work by practitioners that crosses the boundaries between various disciplines and practices. The common denominator is that all these practitioners use digital games as their tools or source of inspiration to make art. They are called Game Artists.

GameScenes explores the rapidly expanding world of Game Art in the works of over 30 international artists. Included are several milestones in this field, as well as some lesser known works. In addition to the editors' critical texts, the book contains contributions from a variety of international scholars that illustrate, explain, and contextualize the various artifacts.

UNUSUAL SIGN APPEARED OVERNIGHT CAUSES CONTROVERSY

On the night of September the 20th 2006 a sign appeared on a building in the center of Viterbo, an ancient city in central Italy, not far from Rome. Apparently put by the City Council it has already caused quite a stir. The sign is in fact an art piece by controversial artist duo Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.ORG). Looking as official as any other street sign, it reads:

An Ordinary Building
This building was designed by an unknown architect in an irrelevant epoch and never belonged to an important person. The complex does not show any original architectural solutions, nor does it conserve any important works of art within. No memory is kept of any significant historical events occurring on this site. No known personality was born, lived or died here, nor is any excellent artist or sublime poet still working here.

Hundreds of unaware passersby have been staring at the sign: "It's brilliant!" comments an elderly woman "But I have no idea how to interpret it". While an outraged citizen living nearby comments "This is just unacceptable, look around, there are buildings much worse than this one, especially in the suburbs".

When asked to give an explanation of the sign, Franco Mattes, currently in New York, declared "It means what it says".

Italian curator Claudio Zecchi, who commissioned the work, comments: "This piece has a strong provocative nature like all their previous ones. The ideal stage for their art is not the official places where artworks get recognition and celebration like galleries and museums, but the city itself. It is only there that they can obtain the most genuine reaction".

The artists plan to leave the sign on the building until mid October, but whether or not the City ...

A new net art commission by YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES launches at Tate Online on 6 October 2006 (www.tate.org.uk/netart). Called 'THE ART OF SLEEP', the work explores the international art market, while its launch coincides with the latest Frieze Art Fair in London. YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES are Young-Hae Chang, a Korean woman, and Marc Voge, an American man, who live and work in Seoul. Their work is Flash based and employs a mix of animated typography, jazzy music and humour.

The artists were also invited to participate in an interview about their practice to accompany the Tate commission. In place of the standard video interview now found at Tate Online, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES chose to create a second Flash piece called 'THE ART OF SILENCE', 2006, based on a selection of the questions supplied.

An interpretive essay by Mark Tribe entitled 'An Ornithology of Net Art' accompanies the commission. Mark Tribe, an artist and curator, is Assistant Professor of Modern Culture and Media Studies at Brown University. He founded Rhizome.org, and is the author of ‘New Media Art’ (Taschen, 2006).

This Friday, 9/29, Creative Commons will be holding a benefit concert featuring Peeping Tom, Diplo, and Girl Talk at Irving Plaza in NYC. Anyone who will be in town should definitely check it out, and come say hi to us at the CC table. Here’s the info for the show:

This concert is a great way to show your support for our work, as proceeds from all ticket sales will go directly to Creative Commons (please note that ticket price is *not* tax-deductible). Tickets are $25 each (plus service charge) and are available online at
artistid=1041799&majorcat">Ticketmaster.

The event is a part of Next Music, which kicks off WIRED NextFest, a four-day festival featuring more than 130 interactive exhibits from scientists and researchers
from around the world.

"Simultaneita new media arts magazine" is an online journal and periodically printed with international contributors: it's a publication with an explicit futurist attitude, largely aimed at today cultural topics and special reference to art-technology relationship; it features in-depth essays, unpublished materials, reviews, notes and articles on new media arts, digital culture, architecture, music, cinema. Established in 1997 as a printed magazine, Simultaneita' is a direct follow-on from the monthly "Futurismo-Oggi" (1969-1993). A magazine to promote the strength and diversity of new media arts scene and the Futurist legacy: the mission is to be an outlet with a resolutely international orientation for the reflection, knowledge, research and diffusion of these new artistic forms, without wanting to pigeon-hole digital art and its characteristic fluidity.

The magazine was in Sevilla as media partner for "Art Futura '98 the second skin" the new media & digital art festival, "Loop ...